Hewlett Packard Enterprise Earnings: Can It Ride Dell's AI Wave?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE:HPE) reports second-quarter results tonight after the bell, and the timing couldn’t be more electric. 

Shares are already surging 6.92% on the day, trading at $46.05 — nearly kissing a new 52-week high of $46.40 — as investors front-run what they hope will be a repeat of Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) blockbuster print last Thursday.

• HPE stock is climbing ahead of earnings. See the price action here. 

Dell's Q1 Blowout

Dell’s first quarter FY2027 results were the talk of Wall Street last week, with the company posting $4.86 in EPS against a consensus of $2.94 and reporting AI-optimized server revenue up 342% year-over-year to $9 billion in a single quarter. 

The AI infrastructure supercycle is clearly real — and now the market wants to know whether HPE can stake its own claim.

The consensus for HPE’s second quarater stands at $9.79 billion in revenue and 53 cents in adjusted EPS, per Benzinga Pro estimates. 

That’s a step up sequentially from the first quarter’s $9.3 billion in revenue, where the company missed estimates by $48 million and EPS came in at 54 cents against a 59 cent expectation — a pattern that’s become frustratingly familiar for HPE shareholders.

What To Watch

The key narrative heading into the print is whether HPE’s AI server backlog is finally converting into hard revenue. 

On the first quarter call, CEO Antonio Neri was emphatic — “demand is very, very, very strong, there is no pushout” — and the company entered the second quarter with a record $5 billion AI systems backlog, dominated by enterprise and sovereign orders. 

First-quarter AI systems orders hit $1.2 billion, and management guided second quarter revenue of $9.6 billion –$10 billion, with AI shipments weighted heavily to the back half of the year.

The wildcard remains the Juniper Networks integration. Networking revenue jumped 142% to 152% year-over-year on a reported basis in second quarter guidance — almost entirely driven by the Juniper acquisition bolting onto the base. 

Management expects cumulative “networks for AI” orders to reach $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion by fiscal year’s end. That’s a genuine differentiator from Dell, which has no comparable networking segment.

Bears will point to two straight quarters of EPS misses and a lowered full-year cloud/AI revenue growth target (mid-to-high single digits, down from prior guidance). 

GreenLake ARR is on track for $3.5 billion by FY26, but recurring revenue growth hasn’t been enough to re-rate the stock meaningfully — 66.7% of analysts rate it a Buy with an average price target of $30.67, well below today’s trading price near $46.05.

The Pressure is On 

With Dell setting a high bar and HPE’s stock already pricing in a positive surprise, the pressure is on tonight. 

A clean beat with upward AI shipment guidance could push HPE through its 52-week high. A miss — or muted guidance — and the Dell-driven halo effect fades fast.

Photo: PJ McDonnell / Shutterstock